Islamabad vs Lahore for couples
Islamabad and Lahore are both in Pakistan, about 270 km apart. Every figure below comes from the data behind our city pages: an estimated monthly cost for a couple, tax tier, annual climate, safety, healthcare, internet speed, language and residency rules.
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Side by side
Source: the datasets behind our city pages. Cost is our model estimate (a country-level cost index scaled for city size); tax tiers are assigned by hand from each country's top marginal income tax rate and overall tax reputation; temperature from the Open-Meteo archive (2019 to 2023 averages); rainfall from TerraClimate (1991 to 2020 normals); safety and healthcare are our own country-level estimates; internet from the Ookla Speedtest Global Index; English from the EF English Proficiency Index; residency from our hand-reviewed residency dataset (not legal advice); short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset.
Factor by factor
Cost of living
Close on cost: we estimate about €1,882 a month for a couple living centrally in Islamabad and €1,945 in Lahore.
Taxes
Same country, same tax: Pakistan is in our low to medium tax tier.
Climate
Lahore is 2°C warmer on average over the year: 24°C against 22°C in Islamabad. Lahore is drier, with about 450 mm of rain a year against 944 mm in Islamabad (52% less).
Safety
Our safety score is country-level, so both cities get the same 45 out of 100.
Healthcare
Our healthcare score is country-level, so both cities get the same 45 out of 100.
Internet
Our broadband figure is country-level: about 20 Mbps median fixed download in both.
Language
Main languages in both: Urdu, English. English proficiency is rated the same in both: limited English.
Residency and visas
Same country, same rules: long-term residency in Pakistan is rated possible, with conditions.
Which one fits a couple
As two cities in Pakistan, Islamabad and Lahore share every country-level figure, and no factor we score puts either clearly ahead. What sets them apart: Lahore is 2°C warmer on average (24°C against 22°C); Islamabad is wetter, with 944 mm of rain a year against 450 mm; Lahore is a major city (over 5 million people) and Islamabad a large one (1 to 5 million people). They are 270 km apart.
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